Tuesday, May 9th: Today we started by driving towards natural hot springs but stopped near the summit of a mountain to walk around and enjoy the view. After that we got to the hot springs which were naturally sourced but with man-made pools. It was super relaxing and a great break from the constant movement of the other days. The view there was beautiful and looked like a scene out of Avatar.
After we went to a hummingbird reserve where we got to view all sorts of birds and catch some slow-mo videos. Also, there was a river there we could walk up to that was super powerful and beautiful to look at. Afterwards we spent a lot of time on the bus getting to view the valley and waterfalls. The river was super high, but these two kayakers were on it, and I got to see them go through the whitewater for a couple seconds. Lunch was a nice break and we got to watch some Real Madrid with one of the staff for a few minutes. Later we got to walk through a cloud forest which was a very wet but very cool experience. Finally, we got to Todd’s Lodge, Iyarina, where we had dinner and fought off some bugs before crashing asleep.
Wednesday, May 10th: Last night we could only hear the river. A loud bang in the middle of the night woke me up and I looked out my window to see a massive river. I admired the view for a few moments before getting a bit more sleep. Once I was up for real, we enjoyed a great breakfast with some of the best coffee I’ve ever had. After trying on some mud boots, we walked over to a plot of cacao trees where we got to harvest them ourselves. It was really cool getting to crack them open, taste the fruit, and then pull out the seeds to be turned into chocolate. Learning what was a ripe pod, how to harvest them, and then seeing the process of roasting, grinding, and cooking them was great.
After lunch a local company Kallahari came to the lodge and explained the history of their organization and did a chocolate test. I was really interested in how they were a worker collective, working to bring economic prosperity to the whole community, working together to compete against longstanding brands like Peccari. Now, with a few more bars of chocolate in my suitcase I patiently wait for dinner.